Questions About Following Joy

Everything vibrates. As we know from science class, even matter is vibrating, albeit at a slow frequency. Emotions have frequencies as well.rnWhat excites you indicates that something vibrating in resonance with a core frequency of who you truly are. What feels bad is an alert that you’re out of alignment with who you are and what you need, and that new choices are required in order to strike a balance. Considering this usually brings forth questions. What if I don’t feel like doing work I’ve committed to? Do I just stop? Being in resonance with what makes you feel joyful does not mean that you stop being responsible. Two things are well worth considering. The first is that, as always in our pursuit of self-discovery, balance is paramount. Mastery in learning how to find yourself means demonstrating excellence in all of the roles you play. Integrity is the name of the game. Following this, the second point to consider is the development of sensitivity and nuance. Consider the short, medium, and long term. Would it really make you feel good if you did not, for example, complete a task that someone is counting on you to finish? Probably not. You may of course discover that as you get in better touch with what makes you feel most alive, you may re-consider some of your current commitments. The move here is to be an alchemist, and then to ultimately funnel your changing choices into honoring the commitment to yourself. You’re first an alchemist by transforming your approach to, and thus your feelings about, the things that no longer excite you (or never really did), but that you can’t just drop this minute. You honor the commitment to yourself by making a plan to move swiftly towards a life where you can do the things that uncover your joy. How do I know that following my joy will provide for me? If you are using the word “know” to only denote rational understanding, you won’t. Rational, intellectual understanding can only make statistical guesses at the future. The heart is the apparatus that possesses the real “knowing” you are speaking of. Most things in our culture do not nurture this faculty. It will take tremendous trust (the path of learning how to find yourself inevitably does). The primary tool to develop this is meditation. If you already know what excites you and brings you joy, don’t make it more complicated by convincing yourself that you need to meditate on it more. Doing that is just your mind creating more unnecessary steps. Use your meditation for other things, not as an excuse to delay what you already know deep down. What is meditation? In its most basic sense, it is being present. One of our favorite definitions we’ve heard of meditation is given by spiritual teacher Michael Bernard Beckwith: “meditation is paying undistractable attention to reality.” You pay attention to the reality within. You are given the answers of your heart. Only in your acting on these answers will more answers unfold. You get out of life what you out into it. There’s no way to short change that.